
PEOPLE 



W I 1. L. I A M 






.1 



OK HAI/riMOHK 





H A I. 11 iM () I{ K: 

PKIN'l'KI) MY JAMK.S YOUiVCJ, 

114 WKST H.M.TIMdKK STKKKT 

18fil. 




/ 



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A' 



Second Address 



TO THE 



PEOPLE OF MARYLAND. 



B Y ^ _^ 

y - 

WILLIAM H. COLLINS, 



OF BALTIMORE, 



H A LTI MO HE: 
PRINTED BY JAMES YOUNG. 

114 WKST BALTIMORE STREET 

186L 



®0 the f C0i)le of ||iu'i>latt(l. 



Will 3'ou listen if I speak to 3-011 of Loyalty, of Love of 
Country? Terrible times have fallen to your lot. What- 
ever of manhood^ of prudence, of courage, of patriotism be- 
longs to yon, now is tlie time to show it. The Union is in 
danger; your Country is near the throes of death — that 
Union and that Country which have been to you, for sev- 
enty years, one continued sliower of blessings ; to which 
you have been accustomed to look from your childhood as 
the palladium of your safety, as the object of your dearest 
affections. State after State has seceded from the Govern- 
ment, refusing obedience to its laws, and attempting to form 
another Government independent of that of our Union. 

Under these painful circumstances it becomes you. People 
of Maryland, to trace out for yourselves tlie patli to wliich 
duty, honor, loyalty and patriotism may point the way. 

In Maryland, as in much the larger part of our Country, 
it has ever been held that, to the extent of the powers given 
to the General Government by the People of the States at 
the adoption of our Constitution, that. Government became 
a unit, and rightfully claims from us a direct allegiance ; 
that, to the extent of the powers so given, tlie People of the 
States, in whatever form tliey may choose to act, have parted 
forever with all the great j)owers given to the General Gov- 
ernment by the Constitution ; that the People of any one of 
the States, or the State itself whether acting by its Legisla- 
ture or Convention, have no more power over questions of 
war or peace, of ambassadors or treaties, of coining money 



or establishing- post-offices, of union or disunion, than 1ms the 
General Government within a State over the distribution 
of the estates of intestates, or the forms of wills, or the de- 
scent of real estate ; that in each case the powers of the 
General Government and of the State Government are re- 
spectively supreme. 

People of Maryland, do you wish to break up your Gen- 
eral Government? Have you become weary of beholding 
the stars and the stripes, the emblems of your Nation's glory? 
Will you desert your Country because others have proved 
false to their allegiance ? Is your patriotism so versatile 
that the long-cherished passion of your souls has suddenly 
perished? Are you ready to draw the sword against your 
Country which, heretofore, you have drawn only in her de- 
fence ? 

What is patriotism ? From the beginning of nations, in 
all ages and countries, the patriot has ever been held in the 
highest veneration. The impulse under which he acts has 
ever been lauded by ])ainters, sculptors, poets, historians, as 
the noblest tliat belongs to our nature — save and except only 
the sacred homage that binds us to our Father in heaven, 
and the mystic tie that connects us with humanity itself. 
Next to these, love of country is the highest and noblest 
feeling of which the human heart is susceptible. Higher 
and more sacred than the ties which bind the husband to his 
wife or the parent to his child, it stands forth, has stood 
forth, and will stand forth forever as the generous and noble 
passion of our souls. The more his Country is in danger, 
the dearer she becomes to the patriot. Are her ranks thin- 
ning? The f|uicker is his step to take the place of the de- 
serter or the fallen. Is she poor? He lays of his wealth at 
her feet. Is his life demanded? He lays it down, has ever 
laid it down, and ever will lay it down freely at his country's 
bidding, whether the altar for the sacrifice be at Thermo- 
pyla3, or Bunker Hill, or Princeton, or Trenton, or Cowpens, 
or Yorktown. 



Tell nio not of scrvinii; our Country, or of stiindinj; l)y our 
Country as long as it is our interest to do so. The doc- 
trine is a liliel on liunianity. Unselfish love for our Country, 
not for tlic Idessings slie lias bestowed or will bestow, but 
because she is our Country, because we delight to serve her. 
because like your cliildren she is twined around 3'our hearts, 
and it is happiness to labor for her welfare ; this, tliis is the 
love which has made, and I trust will make again and again, 
those grand and heroic men to whom history gives immor- 
tality. 

Notwithstanding I am fully aware and justly jiroud of the 
well-known fealty and loyalty of the Peojile of Maryland to 
tlieir State and National Govei-nments, it seems to me that 
it may be profitable, in tliese days of rebellion and (lisuiiioii, 
to recall to your view some general outline of the powers 
vested in those Governments respectively under which we 
have so long lived in prosperity and honor. 

The General Government as well as the Governments of 
the States, in their res])ective spheres, were intended by the 
Constitution to be immortal. The State of Maryland lias no 
more riglit — eitlier by her State-Convention or otherwise — 
to release you fiom your allegiance to the General Govern- 
ment, than has the General Government to release you from 
the duties you owe to tlie State of i\Iaryland. Each has its 
separate orbit, and the one has no right to interfere with 
the other. If the State of Maryland should pass an ordi- 
nance of secession by a Convention called by her T^'gislature. 
or in any other way, and should attenijjt by such ordinance 
to interfere with, or supersede the allegiance you owe to the 
General ({overnmeut, I say to you. People of ]Maryland, 
under all the resixmsibilities which may attend the declara- 
tion, that such an ordinance would be null and void. I re- 
peat, such an ordinance would be null and void, because it 
would be beyond the jiowers reserved to the States by the 
Constitution of the Union, and would be a direct interference 
with the powers granted by that Constitution to the General 
Government. A Convention of the Pei^ple of a State is 



6 

limited, as to its powers, to the parceling out and providing 
for the exercise of the powers and rights reserved to the 
States. Over the powers granted to the General Govern- 
ment by the Constitution, a State-Convention lias no power 
whatever. The Constitution of the United States is para- 
mount to the State-Convention. The State-Convention is 
subject to the Constitution of the United States. The State 
Legislature is subject, first, to the Constitution of the United 
States, and secondl)^, to tlie Constitution of the State. 

I desire to be undei'stood. The Constitution of the United 
States vests in the General Government, in perpetuity, all 
the high powers, rights, and functions granted to it, and 
specially enumerated in that sacred instrument. There can 
be no change in that Constitution, except by one of the ways 
pointed out in the fiftli article thereof. By that article it is 
in substance provided, that two-thirds of both Houses of 
Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution ; or, 
at the application of two-thirds of the Legislatures of the 
States, it shall be the duty of Congress to call a Convention 
for the purpose of proposing amendments to the Constitu- 
tion ; which amendments, in either case, shall be valid, as 
parts of the Constitution to all intents and purposes^ when 
ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the States, 
or by Conventions in three-fourths thereof, as the one or the 
other mode of ratification may be pro})osed by Congress. 

The powers of the General Government are such as the 
Constitution now gives, or may hereafter give to it, by either 
of the modes of amendment prescribed by the Constitution 
itself. These powers are sacred to the General Government. 
The States have parted with them forever. A State-Govern- 
ment, or a State-Convention has no more right to interfere 
with any of these powers so vested in the General Govern- 
ment, than it has to interfere with the powers of the 
British Parliament, or of the absolute sovereign of Russia. 
The Constitution of the United States is paramount to the 
General Government, as well as to tlie Governments and 
Conventions of the States respectively. All Acts of Con- 



gress passed in pnrsiianco of its constitutional powers are 
declared, by the Constitution itself, to be "the supreme law 
of the land ; and the Jud<,a's in every State shall be bound 
thereby, anytliini; in the Constitution or laws of any State 
to tlio contiury notwithstanding." 

What, then, are the jjowcrs of a State-Convention, duly 
convened? Such a Convention has absolute control over all 
the rights and ])owers reserved to the States ; that is to say, 
not granted by the Constitution to the (General Government. 
Such a State-Convention can shape the State-Government in 
any form it pleases — provided it be republican — as to the 
ajjportionment and exercise of the powers so reserved to the 
States. Tiiis has usually been done by forming a State-Con- 
stitution. Such a State-Constitution usually provides that 
certain of the reserved powers shall not be interfered with 
by the State Legislature ; and vests the other reserved powers 
in such State-Legislative, Judicial and Executive Depart- 
ments as the State-Constitution provides. These State-Con- 
ventions and Constitutions have no more control over the 
powers and rights of the General Government, tlian over 
the powers and rights of Foreign Nations. 

Such, People of ^laryland, I believe to be the true and 
plain statement of the ])owers and n-lation.s o\' the compli- 
cated machinery wliieh constitutes our General and State 
Governments. 

First in order, and ovo- and above all, is the Constitution 
of "The United States of America,"' as it now exists, or as 
it may hereafter be amended in pursuance of provisions con- 
tained within itself. 

Second in order, is the Government of "The United States 
of America," which, to the full extent of the powers con- 
ferred upon it by the Constitution, is over and above all 
State-Legislatures, or State-Conventions, or State Constitu- 
tions : and is subject only, to the full extent of those ])owers 
and all laws passed in pursuance thereof, to the Constitution 
itself as it now is, or as it may hereafter be amended in 
pursuance of its own provisions. 



Third in order are the State-Conventions when lawfully 
assembled. These State-Conventions have supreme power 
only over the rights reserved to the States ; that is to say, 
not granted by the Constitution to the General (lovernment. 
These State-Conventions are clearly subject to the Constitu- 
tion of the United States, and to all acts o'f Congress passed 
pursuant thereto. 

Fourth in order are the State-Governments, consisting of 
their legislative, judicial, and executive departments ; all 
of which are clearly subject, firsts to the Constitution of the 
United States ; secondly to the General Government to the 
full extent of its powers as vested in it by the Constitution ; 
and thirdly, to the Constitutions of the respective States. 

If these things be so, should there be a question with any 
faithful and loyal citizen of the United States, whether he 
will obey a Convention of his own State acting beyond its 
powers, or the General Government in the exercise of its 
constitutional functions? Is not the very statement of the 
(Question its argument? 

To go a step further. A State cannot leave the Union, 
even by the consent of the General Governuient. Congress, 
or the President and Senate have no power to give sucli 
consent. The relations of the General Government to .the 
several States, and of the several States to the General Gov- 
ernment are prescribed and fixed by the Constitution. No 
ao-reement or consent between a State and the General Gov- 
ernment can change these relations. Any such agreement 
would be in direct violation of the Constitution, That Con- 
stitution is paramount to the General Government, as well 
as to the State-Governments. The separation of a State 
from the General Government can only be legalized by an 
amendment to the Constitution, according to one of the ways 
pointed out in that instrument. 

Nor can the separation of a State from tlie General Gov- 
ernment be authorised l)y a treaty between them. No treaty 
can be made between the General Government and a State 
Government. Ambassadors, by force of the term, are high 



9 

agents, appointed by one sovereign power to separate and 
distinct nationalities. Tlieir agreements are called treaties. 
Such treaties, by the grants of tlie Constitution, tlie United 
States has ])owcr to make \v\\\\ another Governraent. But 
that Constitution expressly declares, that '*no State shall 
enter into any treaty, alliance, or confederation." The 
powers of the General Government of the United States, as 
also of the Governments of the States, are fixed hy the Con- 
stitution. The General Government has all the powers 
granted by tliat instrument. All i)owers not thereby granted 
to the General Government, nor prohibited to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectively. The General Govern- 
ment and the State-Governments each, Avithin its sjihere, is 
supreme. Out of its s[)here eaeh is [lowerless, and its acts 
null and void. 

As correctives of any abuse of these respective jxtwers we 
have the ballot-box, botli State and National, the e([uality 
of all the Stales both great and small in the Senate, jxijiu- 
lar rei)resentation in the House of Representatives and in 
the Executive, and a life-tenure on the part of the Judiciary, 
which has full jmwer, in any case brought before it within 
the range of its jurisdiction, to redress any wrong committed 
airainst the humblest citizen. 

The General Government has no power to make war on a 
State. Why is this? It is because by the very nature of 
war the conqueror becomes absolute master of the conquered. 
He can give the conquered country such laws and govern- 
ment, and dictate to it such terms as he pleases. But the 
General Government, by the Constitution, is proliibited from 
interfering with the powers reserved to the States. The 
General Government can neither take from, nor add to 
the pinvers of the States. Nor can she, as against or in 
favor of a State, take from or add to her own powers. There- 
fore it is tliat the (xeneral Government cannot make tear on 
a State ; because, if successlul, she would annihilate State- 
power through the high powers conferred by the laws of war 



10 

on the conqueror ; and that would be inconsistent witli, and 
in violation of the Constitution. 

Nor can the General Government make war on tlie people 
of a State ; because by the laws of war, resistance made by 
the people of a Country, in defence of its nationality, has ever 
been held as noble and praiseworthy by generous conquer- 
ors ; whereas the levying of war against the United States, 
by the citizens of a State, is treason by the clear provisions 
of the Constitution. The converse of these propositions is 
equally true. A State, or the people thereof, cannot make 
war on the General Government. The riglits, the relations, 
and the obligations of the States to the General Govern- 
ment, and of the General Government to the States, are 
fixed and settled by the Constitution. They can neither be 
increased, nor changed, nor varied by war, nor by treaty, 
nor otherwise, except by an amendment of the Constitution 
in one of the ways pointed out by it. Tliis Constitution is 
the true higher laiu. It binds alike the General Govern- 
ment, the several States, and the People there(jf ; and cannot 
be changed, or altered by nullification, secession, or rebellion 
on the part of a State ; nor by war or treaty between a State 
and the Government of the Union. 

But, People of Maryland, you have never denied, nor your 
Fathers before you, that tlie General Government possesses 
ample powers to enforce obedience to her laws. The very 
term Government implies these powers. Tliey are innate, 
iiiherent, from the nature of things. They have been recog- 
nised and practiced from the beginning in the better and 
purer days of the Republic. The General Government has 
also, of necessity, the right and the power to defend her 
Forts, her Arsenals, her Custom-Houses, and to collect her 
revenues. These powers are also inherent. They too are in 
the nature of tilings. The Convention which framed the 
Constitution, and tlie Peo])le of the States who adopted it, 
no doubt intended to create, and did create thereby, a Gov- 
ernment able to sustain itself. 



11 

I do not (loom it advisalilo, liowovor, in the present con- 
dition ot" our r.ountrv, to discuss, in ilotuil, the ways and 
means hy wliicli the Ooneral ({ovoinniont niii^lit, in case of 
dire extremity, npludd and maintain her authority. I trust 
that dire ex(rcmUi) will never coin(\ Tlie hirijost statesman- 
ship, tlie truest h)ve for our whole Country, witii n fnll sJmre 
thereof for the disaffected part; the dee])est honor and 
dread of fratricichil contests, patience, forhearance, concilia- 
tion, a willingness to listen to complaints, and a desire and 
resolution to redress them to the extreme verge of justice and 
equity : a firm resolve to maintain the Union and the Con- 
stitution ; with a full knowledge that these will find their 
surest foundations when, without a strain, like a ship on the 
water, they rest on the affections of the People ; these are 
some of the (|ualities of that high and eminent statesman- 
ship which would l)o necessary for a wise and ])ro])er decisi(ui 
of these groat questions of nowor, and ])rudence, and patriot- 
ism, in the event of the failure of all other means to sustain 
the Government. Long, long may it he hoforo the American 
Statesman is called upon to decide these hiuh and mighty 
questions. Should it he otherwise I liunihly ])ray that he 
may bring to that decision a courage, a wisdom, a discretion, 
a patience and a patriotism equal to those of Washington 
himself. I have the greatest confidence that, with a tithe of 
these high qualities of statesmanship, the ])resent difficulties 
of our Country can be settled, and our Union saved in all its 
brotherhood and gJori/ and potver. 

After our troubles are over^ should another Anacharsis 
visit our Country — as did the first of that name, some twen- 
ty-four centuries ago, the States of Greece — for the purpose 
of carrying back to his native Scythia a knowledge <if our 
institutions, our civilization, our manners, our customs, our 
coniniorco, our science, our agricnltuie and onr military 
])ower, lie should, first of all, study the fiame-work of our 
National and State Governments, and take a clear view of 
the wondrous working of the Constitution as it holds the 
great Central Government firm in its place, whilst the State- 



12 

Governments revolve around it in tlicir respective orbits 
Avithout a jostle, controlled by the same mighty ])ower. 

He might then be told that, less tlian four centuries ago, 
the existence of tlie American Continent was unknown to the 
civilizations of Europe and of Asia ; tliat the race which now 
owns and controls the vast area of the United States is an 
offshoot from Europe ; and under colonial ibrms of Govern- 
ment, in about a century and a half it reached a population 
of three millions ; that it separated from tlie jjarent stem 
less than a century since, and, under the workings of our 
General Government, the Nation thus formed has trebled its 
area, and increased by more than tenfold its population, 
power, commerce, productions and wealth ; that soon a 
hundred millions of free and brave sons will repose in plenty 
and safety under the wings of this Great Central Govern- 
ment. 

When this great creation of our Fathers shall have been 
clearly comprehended, well might the noble Scythian ex- 
claim : I will visit your Niagara ; I will float on your great 
Inland Seas in the wooden palaces I have heard of, and whicli 
more than rival the wonders of Eastern story ; I will climb 
your Mountains, as they divide the water-sheds of your land, 
stretching from Ocean to Ocean ; I will trace your Rivers as 
they drain and fertilize your valleys, and afford path-Avays 
for your commerce for thousands and tens of thousands of 
miles ; I will see with my own eyes your fields white with 
the bloom of the cotton, or yellow with their golden har- 
vests ; I will travel on your Rail-Roads and Canals ; I will 
visit your Cities and behold your monuments and your (;api- 
tol ; but I shall see nothing, I can see nothing equaling in 
colossal grandeur the great intellectual creation which gave 
your General Government the powers of an Empire ; whilst 
your State-Governments^ existing in smaller fragments, bring 
justice, and law, and government almost to the door of the 
citizen, and give him at the ballot-box control over their ad- 
ministration. These, People of America, are your true glory. 
As a friend of humanity, I pray you sustain your Govern- 



13 

ment; uphold your Constitution; maintain your allegiance; 
let Stars be added to your National Flat; ; let one be struck 
from it, Nevkk ! Nkvkr ! 

People ol' i\[arylaii(l. 1 liave tric(l to j»rcsent to you a brief, 
but I trust a ek-ar and accurate outline of tiie powers and 
relations of tlie National and State-Governments, under 
wliicli we have lived in [>ros))erity, lionor, and tVeedom lor 
more tlian seventy years. Of all the States of tlie Union, 
Maryland, iVom lier location, lias diunk freest and deepest 
from the <;reat fountains of our National ]»rosperity. Tlie 
General Government lias been to you as a shower of manna 
for seventy years. You have f^rown with its growth. Your 
wives, your children, your liberties and your institutions, 
have ever found a safe slielter nuihi- the wings of its eagle. 
Truly, "as a hen gathereth lier chickens under her wings," 
so has the National (Tovei-nment sheltered you. Tlie Sons 
of Maryland have found service and gained honor and glory 
in the military, as well as in tlie civil departments of the 
Government. Your mechanics and artisans liave found 
honest and well-rewarded employment in her noble and 
costly public works. Your commerce has been ])rotected on 
every sea. For seventy years you have been cherisheil liy 
her love, her care, her power as if she were, as in trutli she 
is, your mother. Through her you are owners of a ])road 
domain, stretching Irom Ocean to Ocean, antl from Mexico 
to the frozen regions of Canada. All this is now ymir 
Country, and within its more than imperial limits you and 
your children and your cliildren's children, may find free 
and ample homes for ages and ages to come. 

If you aie asked to abandon this imperial domain and 
withdraw your allegiance from the General Government, 
will you do it? Have you any comi)laints to make of the 
General Government y Its course has ever been parental. 
You complain of your Sister States ! Autl will you abandon 
your allegiance to the (ieneral Government, because some of 
your Northern Sisters have passed laws unfriendly to your 
Institutions in violation of their constitutional duties, and 



14 

wliich laws are therefore void ; or because some of your 
Soutliern Sisters have passed ordinances of secession, in vio- 
lation of the same sacred instrument, and therefore equally 
void ? I trust not ; I pray not. Rely upon it the heart of 
the People of this great Country beats in tune to the 
music of the Union. If the Congress which is about to 
close its career shall fail, by a constitutional majority, to 
propose satisfactory amendments to the Constitution, do not 
be disheartened. That Congress — and it is with a blush for 
my Country that I say it — numbers muny jjoUticiaiis, and but 
few statesmen. 

There is another mode of amending the Constitution. Let 
the Legislatures of the several States call on Congress to 
summon a Convention. Two-thirds of the State-Legisla- 
tures agreeing, Congress is bound to call it. A Convention 
fresh from the People would agree on amendments satisfac- 
tory to the Country. The People of the United States would 
look to this. They do not mean that this our Government 
is to be broken up ; and will therefore take care that fair 
concessions are offei'ed by the one side, and accepted by the 
other. These amendments should be submitted to State- 
Conventions, and not to the State-Legislatures. The People 
will see to it that they are accepted by the constitutional 
majority of the States. Even the seceding States, tired as 
they will be of their unnatural position, Avill cast their votes 
for the amendments when they are assured that these votes 
will ensure their final adoption. What we need now is 
patience, forbearance, love of Country. Do not despair of 
the Republic. Stand firmly by your flag, your Government, 
your Country in this their hour of dangei-. If evil betide 
you, it will come whilst you are in the path of honor and 
duty. Abandon these, and you will at best become a de- 
fenceless member of a dwarfed Confederacy, full of nullifica- 
tion and secession — for of these it will have been born, and 
it will naturally partake of the qualities of its parents. 

For myself, I did not know how much I loved my Coun- 
try till 1 saw her in these her greatest perils. She has the 



15 

best, the truest, the most loyal affections of my soul. I love 
her the more for her misfortunes and dangers. I love her 
better tlian in my youth. In yontli we love so many things 
as to ])revent concentration ot tlie affections. I>iit, as we 
advance in life, onr own futnio lioine, where we Imnildy Ik^jjc 
to meet tlie loved-ones wlio have gone before us ; and the 
home here, to wliose shelter we mnst t-ommit tlie lovrd-ones 
we leave beliind us and tiie lace with whicli we are con- 
nected by the mysterious ties of nature, stand forth in bold 
relief, and eliallenue our liigliest and liojii'st tlionglits. Like 
the Sibylline books tlieso lemaining olijects of our love are 
the more dearly treasured for their diminished number. I 
am too old to change my allegiance. I could not have done 
so in the more impulsive days of my youth. Bo that as it 
may, I have loved my country too long, too well, ever to 
renounce her. Were she to treat me unjnstly, yea, even 
cruelly, I would sooner perish tlian do aught against her 
honor, her ghu-y or her i)0wer. She would be my Country 
still. 1 would trust to her justice. If that justice faile<l to 
reach me whilst I live. I would still serve her to the utmost 
of my power, and tiust that it would at last reach my linm- 
ble name, even in the grave. Come wliat may in the wi(k'st 
range of human events, 1 (rust my arm, if evei- i-aised against 
my Country, may fall sliattered by my side^, and that my 
tongue may be palsied if it ever attempt to give utterance 
to a thought, or a wish disloyal to her safety and honor. 

Taunt me not with being a submissionist. To lawful 
authority the loftiest s]urit submits most loyally. No man 
was ever less noble tV)r being submissive to the will and the 
laws of our Great Father in heaven ; or for being (d)e(lient, 
and faithful to the Constitution and laws of his Mother — 
the Country of his birth an<l his love. These are high 
duties, acknowledgetl alike by Jewish, Grecian, Roman, and 
Christian patriotism. When Socrates, more than twenty 
centtiries ago, was condemned to death by an unjust and un- 
grateful Country, his frieiuls arranged for his escape. He 
refused his proffered liberty and lil'e : and plaeed that refu- 



16 

sal on an obedience to the laws of liis country so high and 
lofty as to challenge, in all ages and countries, the approval 
of the humblest, as well as of the loftiest minds. "Are you 
ignorant that your Country is more considerable, and more 
worthy of respect and veneration before God and man, tlian 
your father, mother, and all your relations together? That 
you ouglit to lienor your Country, yield to it, and humor it, 
more than an angry father? That you must either reclaim 
it by your counsel, or obey its injunctions, and suffer with- 
out a murmur all that it imposes upon you? If it order 
you to be" "laid in irons, if it sends you to the wars, there 
to spend your blood, you ought to do it without demurring. 
You must not shake off the yoke, or flinch, or quit your 
post; but in the army, in j)rison, and everywhere else, ought 
equally to obey the orders of your Country. For if offering 
violence to a itither or a mother is a piece of grand impiety, 
to put a force upon one's Country is a much greater." Such 
is the lesson of patriotism taught by the wisest and noblest 
son of Greece. For more than twenty centuries it has re- 
ceived the plaudits of the wise, the good, the true and the 
brave ; and I must be pardoned if I refuse to change it for 
the teachings of the modern school of "nullification, seces- 
sion, disunion and rebellion." 

People of Maryland ! I asked you to listen if I spoke to 
you of Loyalty, of Love of Country. I pray your forgive- 
ness if my words have proved false to the impulses of ray 
heart, and have flowed in a strain unequal to the high 
themes of which I have s})oken. Would to God the power 
were given me to discuss these high questions witli an elo- 
quence as lofty as themselves. They do not concern your 
wealth, or your safety, or your industry ; though I believe 
these interests lie in the same direction that your higher and 
holier duties point out. But whether that be so or not my 
purpose was to point you to the path of duty, of honor, of 
lovalty, of love of Country, in tlie full belief that it will lead 
vou to glory and honor which, to a People, are worth more 
tlian all the untold treasures of the golden rocks of Cali- 
fornia. 



17 

The true need of our Country is more of faitltful sons. 
People of Marvliuiil. come to lier rescue. Lay uiion lier 
altars your "lives, your foi'tunes, your saeicil linuor." I 
trust it will not be long before the restored l)rotherho()d aud 
revived ])atriotism of our people will bring liack luinnoiiy to 
our Federal and State-Governments; when the American, 
offering to his hrotlier — no matter whence they come or 
where they meet — the right-liand of fellowship, of conces- 
sion, of kindness, and of peace, will reserve his sword and 
his courage for the enemies of his Counti-y ; wlicn wc shall 
once more, as a Peoi)le, acknowledge the duties of loyalty, 
of love of Country. This blessed time I think I see in the 
distance. "'JMic Nc)rth will give up; tlw South will not 
keep back." Even South Carolina will return to her true 
resting-place in the arms of the Union ; ready again to 
answer, if need be, at the call of a Northern commander, 
and with a son as brave and true as he who fell on the plains 
of Mexico, "Lead on; South Carolina will follow you to the 
death . " 

When this blessed day shall have arrived, as arrive it 
surely will, thirty millions of Peoi)le will shout with one 
united voice : Thanks, thanks to the Great Father of us all, 
our Brotherhood is restored, our Country is saved, our Peo- 
ple united, our Constitution and Government maintained. 

WILLIAM 11. COLLINS. 
Baltimore, Fehruar/f '2?>. ISO]. 



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